The state of Michigan wasted no time in touting its upcoming status as a right-to-work state in a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. The ad declares that Michigan has made history, and goes on to say: “Michigan is the newest Right-to-Work state. This once-in-a generation transformation has Michigan poised to become a preferred place to do business.” Although it throws salt into a pretty raw wound, the decision to buy the ad certainly makes sense -- get in front of a global audience making business decisions. The state waves low business taxes, the end of the personal property tax, and its move to neutralize unions in front of CEOs in hopes that they’ll bite. We’re all watching that process closely to see if they do.

And it would have been just fine if the state stopped there. But it placed the “Pure Michigan,” logo at the bottom of the ad, and ends its pitch with this sentiment: “The perfect storm of opportunity, resources and passion is Pure Michigan.” Pure Michigan highlights many great things about Michigan including our lakes, the Detroit auto show and the tourist destinations across our state. Things we can all agree are good for Michigan. That’s one of the reasons why the campaign is so popular. It has more than 420,000 Facebook fans and more than 43,000 followers on Twitter, where the #puremichigan hashtag, for the most part, is synonymous with beauty.

Right-to-work advocates may argue that the WSJ ad features one positive on top of another. But this issue has divided our state, and by connecting right-to-work to Pure Michigan, it politicizes a distinctly positive, politically neutral campaign that encourages state pride. It’s disappointing that the state decided to tie Pure Michigan to an issue that has torn Michigan apart.